Business Agent* is an FCA approved aggregation and rating portal for equity and debt crowdfunding investments.
AIM is shrinking, legacy stock markets are too expensive to maintain and do not serve the requirements of SMEs, banks are closing branches, lending less and are paying little or no interest to investors. As a result of this there is a huge growth in equity crowdfunding and P2P lending which has seen the launch of hundreds of alternative lenders & platforms that has created a new c.£3bn marketplace, expanding at 66% p.a. There is no single portal or trusted ratings index for investors to compare on a like for like basis and no secondary market to facilitate exits.
* NextFin is the new trading name of Business Agent Ltd
The solution
NextFin aggregates equity and debt crowdfunding investments to create the alternative finance marketplace. This makes it easy for investors and lenders to find and compare opportunities by presenting all investment offerings in one place. With the addition of a free of charge ratings service investors will be able to view ratings of every equity crowdfunding pitch, every P2P site, and every equity crowdfunding site. NextFin’s technology will constantly track these companies and investments providing the investor real-time intelligence on which to base investment decisions. The platforms and entrepreneurs will be self promoting and marketing their ratings driving thousands of visitors a month to the NextFin site, in the same way businesses refer their potential clients to Trip Advisor and Trustpilot. There is an estimated 10 million website/platform visitors per month across the whole of the alternative finance market. NextFin is targeting to direct 5% of this highly profiled traffic to its platform from which it will earn between £5-£8 per click from advertisers and partners. In addition an in-house brokerage service also earns between 1%-6% commissions on loan placements. A future revenue stream (not featured in the financials) will be developed once visitor traffic reaches critical mass. This will see Nextfin being able to realise the full value of its captured ratings data and visitor traffic by launching a secondary market, which is estimated to be a £5bn marketplace.
NextFin is raising £500k at a pre-money valuation of £800k to:
• Acquire CrowdRating for a non cash consideration of 20% equity• Develop P2P and Equity site ratings• Expand the management, infrastructure and marketing resource• Increase visitor traffic to 6m a year via rating referrals
Owing to the size of the market and rapid growth of the industry, enterprise valuations in alternative finance are based on visitor traffic, market share and registered users. Recent published valuations of companies with visitor traffic of over 6m per year are in excess of £70m. NextFin is the market leading aggregator and has first mover advantage. It has the potential to exceed these valuations because it is the whole of market aggregator and is currently the only ratings service provider as it grows to achieve 500,000 visitors p.m.

Advanced Blast & Ballistic Systems Ltd (ABBS) is a pioneer in developing a patented platform technology that has military applications in mine-blast protection and for eVTOL aircraft. The combined value of these projects is estimated to be around $80 Billion by 2035. Roger Sloman (founder) has worked inexhaustibly for 10 years to make civilian and military vehicles safer. The company’s market applications consist of the military, aid agency, mine clearance, and VIP vehicles. ABBS is also working with regulatory authorities around the world such as CAA (UK), EASA (Europe), and FAA (US) to ensure the highest safety level for unmanned flight technology.

Shuttout is a global community-driven photography marketplace that adds social significance to photographs and makes it more fit for sale. It uses features such as 'stock' (Shutterstock, 500px, Flickr), 'social media' (Instagram) and 'photo contest' (GuruShots, Viewbug) to create a unique selling environment. It started worldwide expansion, growth and user acquisition from 154 countries using Facebook and Google ads. It has also collaborated with YouTube Influencers including Rebecca Spencer (UK), Hanna Saba (Australia), and Saurav Sinha (India) to increase its userbase. Shuttout has started the facility for users to host contests by themselves. Since the launch in April 2018, it has reached 76,000+ users and has added 71,000+ photos to the platform. The platform aims to connect those who love taking photos and want to earn money from their passion with potential buyers.

Diamond & Emerald Exchange specialises in coloured gemstone trade and bespoke jewellery creation. It works with a decent business model designed to deliver high quality at below high street prices in both B2C and B2B markets. Diamond & Emerald Exchange has made a unique set of relationships with emerald suppliers in Colombia and South America. It has been awarded 'Best Diamonds & Emeralds Supplier 2018' at the UK Enterprise Awards and, it has gained an "Excellent" Trustpilot score of 5 stars. The company plans to use the raised capital to expand its sales team and develop its in-house marketing, digital marketing and advertising team.

ADC Biotechnology provides specialist drug manufacturing services based on its own patented Lock-Release™ processing technology, focused on a new wave of oncology therapeutics called antibody-drug conjugates (“ADCs”) being developed by pharmaceutical companies worldwide.

These two high quality, two bedroom apartments have been completed as part of the first phase of development at Prosperity House. They have been provided by Prosperity at a signficant discount and have been taken up by an experienced LandLord who is also a CrowdLords member. The LandLord has a portfolio of 23 other properties in various locations around the country including one nearby in Nottingham. He has decided to offer Interim Equity for a period of 12 months after which time he will decide whether to sell or refinance the apartments. In return for their investment Investors enjoy a share of income and a share of any capital gain at the end of the investment term. With this investment the Income yield is paid quarterly and is projected to be 2.8% p.a. paid by way of Dividend, and the capital gain will be a share of 75% of the increase in vale, projected to combine to deliver a total return of 21.3%..

Probe has developed microeye to change the way doctors take blood samples. Microeye provides a continous sample from venus blood without removing whole blood. When coupled with Probe’s continumon it gives the clinician continous data showing trends and rate of change.

BiVictriX Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company that are developing ADC's (Antibody Drug Conjugates) in the field of Oncology. They have invented a strategy that improves ADC selectivity towards cancer cells.

Redag Crop is an agrochemical discovery business focused on products that play a vital role in controlling the pests and diseases that threaten our global food supply. The growing population, expected to grow by 8 billion by 2020 and then 9 billion by 2050, will need more crops than the existing land can produce. Each hectare will need to produce 2.5 times as many crops as they do now.

YProTech provide a specialist service for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology (life sciences) and applied chemical sectors. They provide a fast and reliable delivery of laboratory scale chemistry development services.

AskIf is platform that provides loan funding to small businesses. Each borrower has one or more relationship managers they can talk to. They are collecting data around social impact and are planning on monetising the data within their own business model and also to external stakeholders. AskIf will use the funding to expand referral partnership, increase the amount of their lending partners that are using the platform, make strong relationships to bring in new tech resource in house and bring in loan capital.

An opportunity to invest in a central Birmingham new build development of premium one and two bedroom apartments. This significant development in a prime location will deliver 31 units to meet the needs of young professionals looking to rent in the city centre. The development will start this summer and is due to completed in Q1 2019. All units have been pre-sold by Prosperity to their investment buyers and will be delivered under a fixed price JCT contract. Prosperity are raising equity for the purchase of the site (Subject To Planning) and in return offering a fixed return of 13.5% p.a. using our Interim Equity arrangement. In return for an investment, holders of Redeemable Class B shares will receive 17.6% of their share of the profit which equates to around 16.8% of projected net profits after tax. This will be paid as a capital gain when the shares are redeemed at a price of £1.27 per share, on or before the 31st March 2019.

Risk Warning

Investing in equity crowdfunding and early stage businesses involves high risks, which may include long-term investment horizons, illiquidity, lack of income and potential dilution. Any investor needs to be in the position to afford a total loss of capital invested.
businessagent.com is targeted at members who have the knowledge and experience to understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. You will NOT invest through businessagent.com but through the relevant crowdfunding website which also has signed off the content as a Financial Promotion on its own website. businessagent.com is not the originator of the financial promotions that appear on its site. However we do to the best of our ability carry out limited compliance checks on the originator and the company seeking funding to seek to ensure they are conforming to FCA regulations and anti-money laundering requirements as appropriate. businessagent.com takes no responsibility for this information or for any recommendations or opinions made by the companies or its users. Click here for our full risk warning.

risk warning

INVESTMENTS

Investing in the shares of start-up and early-stage companies can be satisfying and financially rewarding. But it is also very risky.

For example:

Loss of investment

There is a significant risk that you will lose your investment. Most start-up companies fail, and it can be many years before even the most successful start-up company begins to pay dividends. You are therefore much more likely to lose your investment than you are to see a return of your capital and a profit;

Lack of liquidity

If you make an investment, you will probably not be able to sell it for many years. Although it is sometimes possible to sell shares in a start-up company to other shareholders in the same company, it is much more likely that a share sale will be impossible unless and until the company is listed on a stock exchange or bought by another company. Even the most successful of start-up companies can take years to get to the point where it can be listed or sold;

Dilution

Your investment will probably be diluted. If you invest, you will receive shares in the company. If the company needs to raise more capital at a later date, it may issue new shares. If those shares are offered to existing investors and you choose not to buy any more shares, your share of the company will decline. Your share of the company will also decline if the company only offers its new shares to new investors. The company might also want or need to offer its new shares on better terms than the terms available on its existing shares. For example, the new shares might have preferential rights to dividends or sale proceeds, a right of first refusal on further share issues, or better voting rights than the existing shares. Each of these things is likely to be to your disadvantage.

Rarity of dividends

Dividends are payments made by a business to its shareholders from the company’s profits. Most of the companies pitching for equity are start-ups or early stage companies, and these companies will rarely pay dividends to their investors. This means that you are unlikely to see a return on your investment until you are able to sell your shares. Profits are typically re-invested into the business to fuel growth and build shareholder value. Businesses have no obligation to pay shareholder dividends.

The need for diversification when you invest

Diversification involves spreading your money across multiple investments to reduce risk. However, it will not lessen all types of risk. Diversification is an essential part of investing. Investors should only invest a proportion of their available investment funds and should balance this with safer, more liquid investments

Donations and rewards

Giving money to a company can be satisfying; especially if it’s doing – or wants to do – something you think is worthwhile.However, if you decide to give money to a company and it reaches its minimum target, it will be impossible, or almost impossible, to get it back - even if you change your mind immediately.

Loans

Lending money to start-up and early-stage companies can be satisfying and financially rewarding. But it is also involves risk including Loss of investment and interest payments, Lack of liquidity, Restricted redemption rights, Unsecured investments and being bottom of the chain to be paid when a business winds up. Most start-ups fail, and it can be many months or years before a successful start-up begins to make enough money to be able repay its debts. There is a significant risk that the company you lend money to:

• Will not be able to pay you back. If the company you lend money to cannot afford to repay you, you will lose some or all of the money you loaned to the company. You will also lose some or all of the interest you expected to receive in return for your loan;

• Will not be able to pay you back on time. If the company you lend money to cannot afford to repay you when the repayments are due, you may have to wait – perhaps for many months or years – to recover the money you loaned to the company and the interest you expected to receive in return for your loan;

• Will become insolvent. If the company you lend money to cannot afford to pay its debts to you or to its other creditors, the company may be wound up, dissolved or put it into receivership, liquidation or administration. If any of these things happen, you may not be able to recover the money you loaned to the company or the interest you expected to receive in return for your loan. You may also have to wait many months or years to recover any payment, and that payment may be much less that you would have been entitled to receive if the company had not become insolvent. This might happen because some of the company’s creditors (including the receiver, liquidator or administrator) might be entitled to receive their money before other creditors, and when they have been paid, the company might not have sufficient funds left to pay you.